SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) - Branden Carlson rebounded from his worst offensive night of the season to score 17 points and pull down six rebounds, as the Utes basketball team pulled away from Hawaii at the Delta Center Thursday night, 79-66.
Carlson, who scored a season-low nine points against Saint Mary's on Monday, made 8 of 15 shots from the field.
The Utes (5-2) got two huge contributions off the bench, as Hunter Erickson poured in a career-high 15 points, while Keba Keita also had a career-high with 14 points.
"I thought our bench was outstanding tonight," Utes head coach Craig Smith said. "Hunter Erickson was really, really good, certainly his best game as a Ute on both ends of the floor. You can see some things that he can really do."
Utah led 39-34 at the half, and stretched its lead to as high as 16 in the second half.
Rollie Worster flirted with a triple-double with nine points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Cole Bajema had ten points, going 8-for-8 from the free throw line.
The Utes shot 52.6 percent from the field, and held the Warriors to just 42.1 percent, in handing Hawaii its first loss of the season.
It was all Utah to start the game as they raced out to a 23-13 lead over Hawai’i at the 11:57 media break after Cole Bajema drained his sixth-straight free-throw.
However, Hawaii (5-1) did not back down, and answered with a 14-3 run to take the 27-26 lead against Utah – which forced a timeout by head coach Craig Smith with 8:16 on the clock. Utah regained the lead shortly out of said timeout but turnovers kept Hawai’i within striking distance as both squads headed into the locker room with Utah on top 39-34.
The Runnin’ Utes opened the second half with a 11-5 run to get up 50-39. Utah continued to slug past the Warriors in the paint to go up 61-47 at the midway point. It was 68-59, with 5:43 left to go when Erickson took control of the situation, scoring three straight baskets to push the lead back into the double-digits.
"[Coach Smith] really lit a fire under us," said Carlson. "He made sure we woke up a little bit and got more of a sense of urgency. I really like this team and how we can execute when we do just play at our own pace, and play the way that we want to."
Hawaii entered with its best start to a season since 2010-11. The Rainbow Warriors host Central Arkansas on Sunday.
Utah next hosts Southern Utah on Dec. 5 at the Huntsman Center.